Unexpected Arrivals
by Ice-Eagle Y'siri
Summary: The humans are gone except for the select few that the Na'vi had allowed to stay. Max Patel knew that and two days after their victory there was an airship coming down from space. Amelie Johnson is searching for her cousin and nothing will stop her.
1. Chapter 1

_**Title**_: Unexpected Arrivals

_**Author**_: Ice-Eagle Y'siri

_**Summary**_: The humans are gone except for the select few that the Na'vi had allowed to stay. Max Patel knew that. He _knew_ that, and yet two days after their victory there was another airship coming down from space. Amelie Johnson is looking for her cousin, and there's no stopping her.

* * *

As my ship cleared the clouds, I looked at the base that we humans had occupied for the first time. I had woken from cryo about a day and a half ago, and I was wondering what my temporary home would look like.

Boy, was I surprised. No one was there. At the base. It was empty; I was prepared for it, but I was definitely still. . .stunned.

Which made me all the more concerned about my cousin, Norman (or Norm, as he was called) Spellman. Well, he's like a second or third or something, but we talked and were close, and that was enough for me.

Which was why I was really concerned when the ship we had passed right after I had woken up had told us to turn around.

Which, of course, I wouldn't. Not until I found him and that he was safe.

But the humans were driven out, apparently (some corporate idiot was on the line talking) and that they were headed back home. Because of what they had done. They blew up the Home Tree and had nearly taken out the Tree of Souls, as well. That much, I got, before I was lost in all the rest of the techhie jargon and crap. I didn't care about the money that was lost. I hoped that Norman was okay, or at least one of his forms was working.

Oh, yes, I knew about the Avatar project. Everyone in our family knew about the Avatar project and disapproved. Except me. I understood why Norman had to go, but without word for months (after he was expected to arrive) was a little much. It wasn't as if at least some letters or e-mails or info pacs hadn't made it back to Earth, so I was (in my mind) justifiably angry.

Men.

Pff.

"Ma'am, we've landed. Do you want us to see if--"

I shook my head at one of the mechanics and moved toward the airlock, "No, I'll go. And only a pistol, please."

"But ma'am, there could be--"

I interrupted with a snort, "--the fences and walls haven't been broken into yet, and I'm sure some other scientists were here; the guy said so, even though he didn't know which. Besides, I doubt after what has just happened that the Na'vi will take an armed escort right now well. Have someone watch in one of the turrets."

"--Yes ma'am."

I put on my oxgen mask and holstered the pistol and sheathed my knife and turned slightly, "And start sliding my things off the ship, but don't move them too far away. I don't know if I'll be able to stay or not."

"Yes, ma'am."

As the door to the world hissed open, I managed a quick thank-you before the door to the airship shut.

As I strode on the tarmac toward the base, I kept a careful watch on my surroundings, noticing any movement in the trees. Not that there was much. And the quiet.

It was very, very quiet.

Which kind of freaked me out, but still. Jeez.

And the world was grey. Maybe it was just here and the base made it look depressing. Who knew? I shook my head as I reached the main entrance to the base.

Which would, predictably, not open. Go figure.

So, predictably, I banged and kicked the door and nearly broke the damn thing before a voice came over the speaker above the doorway.

"Who are you?"

"Amelie Johnson. I'm looking from my cousin. And you?"

"Is the ship yours?" The male voice sounded tired and suspicious and wary all at once and I frowned, "Yes. Don't think about blowing it up, either. It's got some of my equipment in it."

"Like what?"

I shrugged, "PT stuff."

"What?"

I rolled my eyes, "Physical therapy. I've achieved a Doctorate in physical therapy. Can I come in now? I don't wanna be out here with creepy viper-whatsits or whatevers."

. . .

I was becoming annoyed when the door finally slid open. I stepped inside and as soon as the airlock sealed shut I whipped off the mask and stepped through the other side, careful to keep my hands away from my weapons.

An Indian man was standing on the other side, pointing a gun at me.

I scowled, "Jesus, no need for that. Swear to God, I'm a PT. Now put that away."

He slowly relaxed the gun, staring at my face. I frowned again, "Now, I know that I'm kinda scary looking, but--"

"--God, you look a lot like Norman."

Cue eyeroll.

"Yeah, he's my second or third cousin. Again, I'm looking for his sorry ass and I want to know where the hell he is."

The scientist stuck out a hand and I shook it as he grinned, "Sorry. Max Patel. And yeah, he's probably off gallivanting with trees and flowers in his Avatar form."

I blinked, "Is he-is he-"

Max filled in the sentence for me, "Yes, he's permanently a Na'vi, now. I'm probably going to switch soon, as well," he said gently as he pulled a wheelie chair over and sat, "but that was before you came."

I winced, "Sorry. My timing apparently sucks. The ship that we passed on the way here told us to turn around."

"But-" Max got up and went to the coffee machine on the corner counter.

"But I wanted to know how he is and actually see him. I--not really the rest of his family, since they're jackasses--was really worried. He hadn't sent word pretty much since his arrival. Although, I understand, you were caught up in a war or some such? Thanks," I said as he handed me coffee, along with sugar and creamer packets, "But I'm mad he still didn't tell us something between times. Surely he had a break at least once in three months."

Max frowned, "About a month in, we--as in us Avatar people--were moved to a floating mountain range called the Hallelujah mountains."

"The _what_? You got to go there? Really? I'm so jealous. Well, at least now I know why we've had no word."

Max smirked as he reclined back in his chair, "Don't tell me we have another Pandora nut. I thought I was the last human one."

I socked his shoulder and snarked, "Well, now you're not. And I am. Norman made it sound amazing. He taught me a lot of the Na'vi language and way of life before he left, and I recorded logs of him and watched them on the way over whenever I woke up so I wouldn't be rusty."

"Good."

I raised an eyebrow and he smiled, "Well, if you're going to be here, then you have to know about the Na'vi. We're here because they chose to let us be here. I'm surprised none of the ikran pulled you down and crashed your ship."

I shrugged, "Pure luck, I guess."

"You guess."

My eyebrows took a nosedive, "No, I didn't have any shot down, although some of my men were concerned about them flying to close to the ship and getting caught in the rotors. They wanted to make noise to scare them off, but I refused, and the ikran were out of our way. It was good."

"Hmmmm. Well, what do you say to coming out with me tomorrow afternoon--I'll be in my Avatar form, don't worry--and see if we can find Norm anywhere? He might be at the Tree of Souls."

I grinned, "Sounds great. So can I have the rest of my stuff brought in now?"

Max frowned a little, "I don't see why not."

"Good. Thank God. And thank you, too."

And so began my introduction to Pandora.

* * *

**Hi, everyone! Nothing like a new fandom to get you interested in writing again!**

**Anyway, I know it's stiff, and I know there's background questions, and I know it needs more structure--I'm working on it. As I'm writing the story I'll go back to this chapter and gradually fix it.**

**So thanks for reading and review, please!**

**Ice-Eagle**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Title**_: Unexpected Arrivals

_**Author**_: Ice-Eagle Y'siri

_**Summary**_: The humans are gone except for the select few that the Na'vi had allowed to stay. Max Patel knew that. He _knew_ that, and yet two days after their victory there was another airship coming down from space. Amelie Johnson is looking for her cousin, and there's no stopping her.

**Thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad folks are enjoying it so far!**

_**

* * *

**_

_**The next day, Amelie's POV**_

Bam. _Bam_. **_BAM_**.

"Wake up, sleepy! Omaticaya life starts early, remember?"

I grumbled and picked up one of my pillows, rolling off the bed. Straightening up, I opened my door and bashed Max over the head with it. Hard.

"Hey!"

I growled as I grabbed my clothes (I was in Pj's, no indecency here) for the day as I strode past the doctor toward the showers, "You deserved it. I'm not a morning person. You _also_ weren't the one that just flew five years in space to reach this godforsaken planet."

Max smirked and high fived one of my men that was walking the other way down the hall, "Fine. How can I be forgiven?"

I paused outside the door to the showers and looked at him, "Coffee. Spoonful of sugar and one creamer packet. Now shoo."

"Yes ma'am."

God, I thought to myself, I hate mornings. Like, really, really hate mornings. Six to eight does not cut it. _Ever_. As the water (hot, thank heaven) turned on and I proceeded to wash, I became excited that I would see Norm today. Finally.

After rinsing off and toweling myself dry, I changed into my exploring clothes (Underarmour shirt, camo t-shirt, dirt brown cargo shorts, combat boots, and sunglasses) and fastened my flashlight and combat knife to my belt. I had a hairband and hair tie for my hair later when it dried.

Putting my pj's back in my room, I turned left at the end of my hall, turned left again, and then moved straight into the unofficial "Cafeteria" that served only me, my men, and Max. Apparently, the scientist team already switched over to their Na'vi forms and lived among the Omaticaya. My men would remain here and man the station and take care of Max's body as he moved in his Avatar form. They also (besides being gun freaks) would deal with the remaining experiments that were being handled in a few of the labs.

I sat at a table with a couple of my boys and Max soon arrived with coffee, "You know, you don't take as long to get ready as some of the female scientists used to."

I raised a brow as I sipped my coffee, "Is that a compliment?"

"Duh."

"Wow. That sounded intelligent."

"Sarcasm is noted."

"You're welcome," Jase and Calaub both snickered from farther down the table. Both Max and I simultaneously turned and glared at the two of them, "Is something funny?" I growled.

They just laughed harder.

Cue sighs from Patel and I.

"Whatever. Now, um, are there any insects that are gonna bite me and I'll die from some poisoning or something that I need to be aware of?"

The doctor shook his head, "No, not that Grace or Norm made any note of. They all just pollinate the local botany here. As far as I can tell, for now, you're safe from that sort of thing."

I frowned thoughtfully, "For now?"

Max sighed, "You'll need an Avatar if you're going to be staying any decent amount of time. The oxygen has been rerouted from the buildings we don't use and it's flowing here; there's enough for your men for at least a year. Or two. You'll be deducting from that supply when you're using the oxygen emergency facemasks."

I put my coffee cup down, "But I thought the oxygen machinery converted Pandora's gas to oxygen."

Max shook his head, "No, it doesn't. Much. There was too much energy loss in the process of conversion and so we gave it up. We didn't have enough power resources to continue the idea."

"Well, we have oxygen stores in my ships. That should be good for a while; I didn't plan on leaving us stranded without having enough air to make it back to Earth."

Max's eyes widened, "_Ships_?"

I shook my head, "Not like that, smart one. The airship and my ship orbiting in space. Chill. I didn't bring some fleet. Please. What do you take me for?"

Dr. Patel hit his forehead as we cleared our places, "That's what I forgot to ask. How the hell do you have a ship? Aren't those things ungodly expensive except for the mil--" his eyes narrowed, "--you're not of the military, are you?"

I blinked at him, "Why, Doctor Patel, I'm just a physical therapist."

"That's a--" I shook my head and interrupted, "It's not a lie. I am a legit physical therapist. However, I didn't say that that was all I was. I can safely tell you that I'm not part of the military or RDA. I am part of another organization, however."

We moved toward the AVTR chamber and he sat on the chair next to his capsule, "Your accent just changed. Where are you _from_?"

"I'm what you would call a spy, of sorts. My organization supplies information to most of the countries in the world, not including the Israelis. They're just as good as we are. I was requested to come here by my superior, who was asked by the President of the good ol' US of bloody A. I'm American, primarily. She wanted to know what's up."

"She?" Max said weakly and I nodded, "Yeah. She. A girl finally won. It's her second term. She wants to know what the bloody hell is going on over here--although the head of our organization told her under no circumstances could armed forces come here again--and she needs legit information that she can trust. And so I'm here, although I'm primarily looking for my cousin. She'll believe my superior once the ship that the Na'vi shoved all the humans on arrives back on Earth. She didn't really like the fact that the RDA was sending Marines earlier on when she was still in the Senate in the first place."

"A woman," Max shook his head as he opened his capsule, "Finally, someone practical."

I grinned, "That's what I said. Now I'll explain more once we get going. Where do I meet you?"

"Outside the security door, by the basketball court. I'll see you in a minute. I have questions."

"See ya."

A few minutes later I had exited the building with my oxygen mask. The compressed tanks (each small enough to clip onto my belt) clanked softly as I strode over to the basketball court. I didn't have to wait long when I heard reverberating footsteps behind me. I turned and raised my eyebrows behind my sunglasses, "Dude. You are tall. Damn."

Because of Max's Indian eithnicity, his Avatar was a little darker than average. With a smirk, he squatted in front of me, "You do know Na'vi are tall, right?"

"Duh."

"Gee, now who said that earlier?"

I frowned at him as he moved out of my incoming whack, "So how are we getting there, anyway? I doubt you can run there in one day. Not to mention you'll leave me behind."

"Darn; that was my whole plan. How did you guess?"

I smirked at him as I followed him to an airship, "Oh, shut up."

"You'd miss my chatter. Besides, you're supposed to be telling me about yourself. So. What's your name, age, yadda yadda?"

I fastened my seatbelt in the copilot seat as he lifted the airship into the air. Taking off my mask for the duration of the flight, I put on my headset and adjusted the volume. I took a moment to stare admiringly at the scenery before answering, "My name is Amelie Lorraine Johnson. Call me Amelie. I'm 24. And I'm an actual Physical Therapist. My rank in my organization is the equivalent to a Staff Sergeant in the Marines. What else do you want to know?"

As we entered the vortex, he replied, "Likes and dislikes."

"Um. . .I love chocolate. I hate vegetables and fruits. Or rather, that synthetic crap they have back on Earth. I love to read, I love flying in any sort of aircraft, I like learning history and/or languages, and math and science are my least favorite subjects."

"How the heck did you make it through PT school, then?"

"That was the exception to the rule. It's a lot more fun than med-school, from what my family and friends tell me."

"But don't you have to learn a shitload of physics?"

I shrugged, "Yeah."

He turned for a second to look at me, "That's it? Just yeah?"

I smirked, "Yeah."

Max huffed as he turned back to his instruments, "I swear to Eywa that if we weren't twenty thousand feet in a radar--jamming location I would smack you."

"Would not. How long is this flight gonna be, anyway?"

Max shrugged, "Depends."

"On what?"

"If I hit anything because I can't see. Even if I don't collide into something, flying through the Hallelujah mountain range before dropping down into the jungle a ways from the Tree of Souls will take a while. Like an hour or two. So you might as well ask questions."

"Well, tell me about the rebellion and everything. That should last the ride."

**_Two hours later_**

I put my mask back on, unfastened my seat belt, and jumped down into the grass next to the airship. Max had already walked over to my side. Craning my head back to make eye contact, I said drily, "I'm not sure whether or not I'm happy you're so much bigger than me. You can carry me if any psychotic animals are coming to eat us, right? And the Na'vi aren't going to kill me, right? I do like living. It's a comfortable state of being."

Max laughed as he moved through the brush, "No, you'll be fine. As long as you can speak in their language tolerably well, they probably won't kill you. Besides, I'm here. What do you take me for?"

"I wouldn't know yet," the doctor chuckled again as we moved through the underbrush in the forest. My eyes widened as I took in the wildlife. My God, I thought, No wonder Norm didn't speak of returning to Earth. I wouldn't want to either if this is what's here.

Now, a lot of the wildly colorful plants are around knee height or Max's hip and it's easy for him to brush through them, but as a human and being easily four or five feet shorter than him (I stood at 5 '9') the flora and fauna were up to my chest. I mean, they're _tall_. No joke.

Damn.

Slightly exasperated, I tugged on Max's pants (he was shirtless but wore cargoes to carry samples and various equipment around, along with his backpack), "Hey, can I just hold onto your leg or something? This is kind of ridiculous. I mean, look how tall these things are compared to me. I feel incredibly short. And I keep getting hit in the face by you letting go of them before I'm through. It's wreaking havoc to my pride."

Max smiled, "Sure, sure. Hold on here--" he pulled a spare shoestring from his pocket (don't ask me why he carried one) and tied it to his belt loop. Looping it around my wrist a couple of times, we moved forward again and had gotten a good mile or two away when Max suddenly cocked his head to one side, hushing our argument on whether or not green or yellow eyes were better for my future Avatar.

"Did you hear that?"

I frowned slightly, "Uh, no, genius. I don't have enhanced hearing, remember? All the noise from us crashing about keeps me from noticing anything useful."

"Someone's hurt."

"How can you tell?" I winced as an absolutely _terrific _shriek echoed and reechoed through our section of the forest, coming from our left.

My companion smiled grimly, "That's their ikran. And they never make that sound unless their rider is seriously hurt. Or dying. C'mon."

"God, they're loud and--wait wait wait. An ikran? Won't it eat me? Seriously? Like, no joking here."

Max frowned but continued to drag me forward, "No. Just speak to it in Na'vi. And avoid contact. And don't come help me until I tell you to."

"Yes, sir. Do you have any sort of medical--"

He patted his backpack, "That's what I have in here."

We moved faster as another shriek echoed through the forest. I thought we'd never get to the Na'vi in time and the trees seemed endless, but then we burst into a clearing. Unwinding my arm from the shoestring (and with a flicker of irony I recalled dog leashes) I stepped forward once, then stopped when a hiss echoed warningly. Moving slowly, Max said, "Speak to the ikran. If he moves toward you, don't move. Be calm. Don't look in his eyes."

"How will I know if he'll let me through?"

"You'll know-oh, shit."

"Wha--oh, damn," I blinked upward as an green and blue ikran came towards me and landed not two feet in front of me, "Christ, they're huge. You could've said something, Max, really."

The holographic projections don't do the ikran justice. They really don't. They're humongous compared to a human. Avoiding eye contact and keeping completely still, I murmured quietly, "Hello. Let me help him. I'm safe. Please," my tongue stumbled slightly over the words and I winced internally.

I froze in place as the ikran lowered his head and forced eye contact. Not sure what to do, I raised my head and stared back, unblinking. I wasn't sure how long we stood like that when he/she/it snorted and moved back and before I knew it shoved me headfirst next to Max.

Breathless, I grinned at him, "Hey look, I'm not dead. Who--oh, _damn_," I said again with feeling in English, "What'd he do, jump in front of a machine gun?"

"Knowing this guy, probably. He's not known for his cowardice. At the moment, I'm amazed that he's alive. C'mon, you need to help me get the bullets out."

"Who is he?"

I slipped on the gloves that Max handed me and moved to the side opposite of him, looking down at the bullet wounds, "Oh, you know him, Amelie. He's Tsu'tey."

"Tsu'te--holy shit."

"Yeah."

"Wasn't he--"

"Yeah."

"Then isn't he--"

"Yeah."

"Then how the _hell_--"

Max slipped on a surgical mask and I did the same; he said grimly, "I don't know, but once we get him stable, I'm planning on finding out as soon as he wakes up."

**_Somewhere around eight to ten hours later, can't tell_**

The surgery was absolutely brutal.

I was in serious danger of falling asleep standing up when we were done. I was exhausted; Max even more so; he was the one doing most of the work.

I was lying down when I had a sudden realization. Sitting up, I turned to see Max leaning against the tree near Tsu'tey, "Wait. If the battle ended a few days ago and he was shot during the battle, how did he not bleed out? He should've been dead and gone days ago."

"I have no clue. Maybe their blood is more coagulant than a human's. Either way, he should've died. Maybe Eywa wanted him to live? I'll have to ask Jake and Neytiri."

"But--but--that goes so far beyond--" My head hurt, "And how the heck did you carry all that surgery equipment with you? How did you know you'd need it?"

Max sighed, "While I would normally encourage your fledgling views of my omnisciency, I'm not going to this time. During the aftermath of the battle and the cleaning up, I had carried all this equipment with me--in my horrendously large backpack--because so many needed emergency care that could not be moved. So I brought it all with me. It was force of habit, I guess."

I turned to look at Tsu'tey's face and said softly, "I guess he was lucky."

"Yeah," Max said softly as we both drifted to sleep, "I guess he was."

* * *

**I'm glad people like my story!**

**The whole deal with the time travel---eh, I'm not sure how it works. There probably is some sort of explanation that'd work, but I don't know it, so I won't talk about it. Let's just say that I'm using my Godly Writing Powers and bending the time-space continuum (is that how it's spelled?) and that's how Amelie arrived in time. **

**And I had a description of the surgery in here, but I took it out because a very awesome reviewer pointed out what was wrong (THANKS!!! :D) and since I wasn't sure if it was going to put any other people off, I took it out.  
**

**Thanks for reading (again) and please review!**

**Regards,  
Ice**


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